11. Rand
Eleven
Rand
The second my mate tells me to show her how I feel, my Wolf is begging me to pounce.
Claim.
Bite.
Mark.
And I want to do all those things.
But first...
I lower us both onto the soft carpet covering the hardwood floor, kneeling between her splayed legs as I take in every breathtaking inch of her.
Daria is a beautiful woman.
There is no doubt about it.
Everything about her calls to me. Her curves. Her soft skin. The way her whiskey-colored eyes look at me with trust instead of fear after everything she's learned today.
My heart feels too big for my chest.
My Wolf is practically vibrating beneath my skin.
She chose me.
Against all reason, against everything she thought she knew about the world...
She chose me.
I don't think I'll ever stop being grateful for that.
“You're staring,” she whispers.
I am.
I know I am.
But can you blame me?
I've waited forty-two years for this woman.
Forty-two years wondering if fate had forgotten me.
Now she's here, looking up at me like I'm worth believing in.
She bites her lower lip, and I watch intently as a dusky pink blush spreads across her cheeks, trailing down her neck to her breasts.
I trace it with my hands first, cupping the heavy mounds and teasing the nipples.
“You are so fucking beautiful, Mate,” I murmur reverently.
The words don't feel like enough.
No language could possibly capture what she looks like to me.
She isn't simply beautiful.
She's home.
I lower myself, lips following the path my hands made down her sweet, curvy body.
She's soft in all the right places. And when she sucks in a breath and tries to cover herself from me, I don't allow it.
I kiss her hands and gently tug them away from her belly as I continue to kiss and lick and taste.
“But... I-I have stretch marks there, Rand,” she whispers, embarrassment tainting her sweet voice.
My heart cracks.
I lift my head, frowning.
“I've got scars all over me. Do you find me less attractive because of them?” I ask.
“No, but that's different. Men have scars all the time,” she whispers.
“Honey...”
I cradle her face until she has no choice but to look at me.
“I love your body. Every inch of it.”
I brush my thumb across her cheek.
“And those marks?”
I smile.
“They're beautiful because they're part of you.”
She searches my face, looking for the lie.
She won't find one.
Not today.
Not ever.
I can actually feel the moment something inside her lets go.
The tension drains from her body.
Her breathing steadies.
She believes me.
God.
Watching her accept herself, even for a heartbeat, might be the sexiest thing I've ever witnessed.
Her eyes soften with something dangerously close to wonder.
Like maybe...
Just maybe...
She sees herself the way I do.
I continue my exploration, drawing sighs and moans from her lips as I do.
Fuck.
She tastes sweet and spicy and just...
Perfect.
Exactly as my Wolf knew she would.
Exactly as I've dreamed she would be.
I use my shoulders to widen her legs, and I press my face into her soaked folds. Her pussy is so warm, so wet—and so mine.
“You taste so good, Honey,” I growl and lick into her.
Daria's back arches and her fingers tug on my hair as I continue to eat her out. Hooking one knee over my shoulder, I plunge two fingers into her tight channel, needing her ready for when I take her.
Fuck.
She's so damn hot.
My little mate moans and presses her sweet little pussy to my face as I suck on her hard little pearl.
Her needy clit is swollen, and I know she likes it when I suckle her because her sheath tightens around my fingers.
Every sound she makes goes straight to my soul.
Not just my body.
My soul.
I've spent years imagining what it would be like to make my mate feel cherished.
Wanted.
Desired beyond reason.
Now that she's here, all I want is to make certain she never doubts herself again.
My cock is leaking precum, and I reach between my legs and stroke myself—so turned on, I can't not.
“Oh, Rand! Rand!” she screams my name, and I move like lightning, swapping my fingers and tongue for my dick.
When I push inside her, it's to feel her orgasm still ringing through her tight little body.
“Need another, Honey. Gimme one more,” I growl as I start to pound into her.
Daria moans and clutches at my hips with her sharp little nails.
Fuck.
I love her marking me.
It makes my Wolf howl and pushes the beast in me to claim her even more.
Every scrape of those nails tells me she's here with me.
That this isn't a dream.
That she isn't going to disappear the moment I wake up.
The second I feel her pussy clench with her second climax, I strike, biting her neck where I touched her before.
“That's it. Right there. Fuck, you're such a good girl coming for me when I tell you to,” I groan when she starts to come again.
“Rand!”
Daria is screaming my name, her pussy clenching all around me, and I have no choice.
I follow her right over the edge—a howl torn from my throat as I pump her full of my seed.
“Mine. Mate,” I growl against her skin.
The words are more than possession.
They're a vow.
A promise.
A prayer answered after four decades of waiting.
From this moment on, she will never face another day wondering if she's enough.
Because she is everything.
Everything I have ever wanted.
Everything I will ever need.
My mate.
When at last we come up for air, I rest my forehead against hers.
My mate smiles.
“So...”
“So?”
“I guess this is our second first date.”
I grin.
“Honey.”
“What?”
“I plan on making every date after this even better.”
She laughs, and the sound settles something deep inside me.
For the first time in forty-two years...
I am exactly where I'm meant to be.